12 Strong

A lot of critics or call them prophets of doom believe winning 12 gold medals in the upcoming SEA Games is just too ambitious. But don’t tell that to PATAFA officials led by Chief Philip Juico and training director Nonoy Unso who brought his track team to the Narciso Ramos Sports Complex in Lingayen,Pangasinan for a rigid two-month training. Heading the gold medal hopefuls are pole vaulters EJ Obiena who cleared 5.81m in a Chiara, Italy competition to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Natalie Uy, a Fil-Am from  Eastern Michigan, who won a bronze medal in the Asian Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar.  Uy’s mark of 4.20m is far better than the record of only 4.10m set by Thai Chayanisa Chomchliendee in winning the gold in the 2017 Kula Lumpur SEA Games.  Zion Corrales Nelson could win the gold in the 100 meters after clocking 11:56 seconds in the last Games. On the other hand, Kristina Knott, who once said she will break Lydia De Vega’s record in the 100m and 200m, is likewise another gold medal contender.  Knott recently clocked 11:42 seconds during the Asian Grand Prix.  Knott is also a favorite in the 200 meters with her 23:62 seconds.  De Vega’s record of 23:25 seconds posted in the 1987 Sea Games, is still unbroken.  Other gold potentials areMary Joy Tabal in the marathon, Carter Lily in the men’s 800, William Morrison in the shot put, decathlete Aries Toledo, triple jumper Mark Diones, long Jumpers Junrey Ubas and Olympian Marestella Torres.  Of course, three-time 400m hurdles champion Eric Cray will be a force to reckon with and will anchor the 4x100m relay team. “Good luck guys! Tell the opposition not strut their wares in our house”.  By the way, 12 Strong is a story of American military horsemen who battled the Talibans in Afghanistan in the movie starring Chris Hemsworth.

Marathon Death

There’s no debate on it, the marathon is a grueling and risky sport.  A lot of runners have died in the race.  Somewhere in this column, I mentioned of a Portuguese runner who was  the first marathoner to die in the event in the 1912 Olympics.  Just the other Sunday, a Cebuano Jaime Luzon, 41 collapsed and died while running in the Milo Marathon Cebu Elimination. He was dead when he arrived in the hospital.  A triathlete also died a few years back after he suffered a stroke while biking in an Ironman event.  After competing in over 600 races, spread in 36 years, I’ve decided to hang up my running shoes and put on my Blue Suede Shoes.

Alberto Salazar Sacked

Marathon icon Alberto Salazar and Nike Oregon coach, received a four-year banned  from athletics after the U.S Anti- Doping Agency found him guilty of giving performance enhancing  supplement called L-carnitine to his runners as way back in 2011.  Salazar who was born in Cuba even tested the supplement on his sons and advice former cycling champion Lance Armstrong to try the product.  Armstrongwas himself stripped of his Tour D’ France medals for likewise taking prohibited substance.  Salazar has won three New York Marathon and one Boston Marathon.  His best time is  2:08:13 which he established in 1981.

Did you know?

MC ENROE KICKED OUT. In the 1990 Australian Open, ill-tempered John McEnroe became the first player to be defaulted from a Grand Slam tournament after being kicked out for swearing and cursing.  Umpire Gerry Armstrong shouted “Code violation, verbal abuse, default McEnroe, game set and match Pernfers, in the fourth round when he started  cursing the umpire.  McEnroe is also known to throw or break his rackets

FRANCISCO LAZARO. The 1912 Games recorded its first tragedy.  A young Portuguese runner collapsed from sweltering heat and was the first athlete in Olympic history to die during competition. Of the 68 marathoners, half-dropped out.

Barcelona Olympics

The opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was both spectacular and stylish with performances from legends Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.  A soprano Montserrat Caballe performed the theme song “Barcelona” which was written by Queen singer Freddie Mercury before his death from AIDS in 1991.  The main song of the closing ceremony was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber of the Phantom of The Opera fame and Don Black “Amigos Para Siempre (Friends For Life) and was sung by Lloyd Webber’s ex-wife Sarah Brightman and Jose Carreras.

FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. For a meager amount of $60,Jim Thorpe, a part PotawatomeRed Indian  who won the pentathlon and decathlon events in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was stripped of his gold medals.  Roy Johnson, a reporter for the Worcester Telegram in Massachusetts, reported that Thorpe had been paid playing Minor League baseball in 1909.  The Amateur  Athletic Union took away his amateur status while the International Olympics Committee also took his medals. Unaware that he has broken the amateur code,  Thorpe turned to football  and baseball where he excelled.  In October 1982, 29 years after his death, the IOC pardoned Thorpe and returned his medals to his family.  Funny, “Sa sixty dollars,nawalaang gold ni Thorpe, dilibayatorpesi Thorpe”.

GEORGE S. PATTON. Competed in the 1912 Olympics modern pentathlon and finished fifth and later made his name as a tough general in the second World War. George Scott played the general in the movie “Patton”.